Mindy Smith left Knoxville for Nashville in 1998 to serve her song-writing apprenticeship.
After five years of graft she got her break as the one unknown name on last year's Dolly Parton tribute album, Just Because I'm A Woman. Her slow-twisting, pleading arrangement of Jolene so impressed Dolly, she graces the new version that closes One Moment More.
Dolly, it must be said, out-sings her, but Smith's sweet, cool tones better echo the likes of Patty Griffin and even Suzanne Vega on It's Amazing and Hard To Know.
Honest and bittersweet songs are matched by country blues and folk-flavoured pop settings that rely on stealth rather than Nashville plastic surgery. Let her linger for a moment or more.
Updated: 08:58 Thursday, February 19, 2004
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